The Republican Party created Donald Trump – they cannot complain now that it is biting them in the ass.
Background
Noted author, painter, public speaker, film director, and screenwriter Frank Schaeffer is also a former member of the religious right and a Republican who registered as an independent in 2000 after working for Senator John McCain (R-AZ) for that year’s primaries.
Schaeffer endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in February 2008 in a Huffington Post article entitled “Why I’m Pro-Life and Pro-Obama.”
Later in October of 2008, an open letter by Schaeffer addressed to McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin was published by the Baltimore Sun newspaper. The letter contained an impassioned plea for McCain and Palin to end the hateful tone of the Republican Party’s campaign.
Convinced that the hateful and prejudiced tone of the recent campaign cycle might goad American fringe groups into pursuing violent methods, Schaeffer wrote: “John McCain, you’re walking a perilous line. If you do not stand up for all that is good in America and declare that Senator Obama is a patriot, fit for office, and denounce your hate-filled supporters when they scream out ‘Terrorist’ or ‘Kill him,’ history will hold you responsible for all that follows.”
Speaking to both McCain and Palin, Schaeffer warned: “John McCain and Sarah Palin, you are playing with fire, and you know it. You are unleashing the monster of American hatred and prejudice, to the peril of all of us. You are doing this in wartime. You are doing this as our economy collapses. You are doing this in a country with a history of assassinations.”
“Change the atmosphere of your campaign,” he continued, concluding: “Talk about the issues at hand. Make your case. But stop stirring up the lunatic fringe of haters, or risk suffering the judgment of history and the loathing of the American people – forever. We will hold you responsible.”
Frank Schaeffer explains THE DONALD
This Monday, Schaeffer took to his Facebook page and YouTube, posting a video explaining the Trump phenomenon and how “The Donald” is exactly what the Republican Party deserves.
You can watch the clip, below, followed by a hurried transcript.
TRANSCRIPT:
“Hi, this is Frank Schaeffer and I’m going to take a minute here and explain “the Donald” to you.
“You know, back in the day when I was a religious right activist in the 70s and 80s we were the agitators knocking on the door of the Republican Party. But the politicians were normal people. My friend Jack Kemp or people like Ronald Reagan – I might not have liked their policies but these were not lunatic fringe
. But today, Ted Cruz especially – and with Donald Trump – the lunatic fringe, the agitators we used to be in the pro-life movement are now on the inside. The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
“Donald is what the Republican Party deserves. They have played games with hate. They have defamed our first black president, President Obama – who, by the way, is one of the best presidents this country has ever had. And they have now harvested what they have sown through the Tea Party, talk radio and all the rest of it.
“For the establish now to cry about this and say “oh, how did this happen” is just pure B.S. How it happened is the Koch brothers and all these other idiots financed the Tea Party and thought they could rein it in and get it to do whatever they wanted.
“Well guess what? They created a rabid dog and now it’s biting them in the ass. Tough!
“And so the Republicans self-destructed. They’re going to lose big time in 2016. They are also going to lose control of the Senate. They’re going to get their butts kicked. The next Supreme Court justice to replace Scalia is going to be a liberal Democrat appointee. And it’s been a long time coming and it is exactly what this country needs, but it’s also justice. And in a way, it’s the full circle.
“George Bush starts a war, wrecks our country. Obama tries to fix it; the Republicans obstruct him and lie about him. They create this vicious Tea Party of white goof-offs who want to carry guns and Lord knows what. Religion becomes about taking contraceptives away from women or about writing letters to the president like the president of Gordon College did asking to be exempted from not having to discriminate against gays and all of a sudden Trump appears. And you’ve got this wacko demagogue leading the Republicans.
Well, it is exactly what they have built and so it’s way too late. The barn door is open; the horse is gone. The party has been taken over by the lunatic fringe. The agitators are now running the system. Welcome to 2016.”
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